Generator Recommendations?

[out2kayak]

Just curious, how many here have a standby generator for your whole home or workshop?

Is there any recommendations you have? What would you look for / think about?

Thoughts?

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by out2kayak

Just curious, how many here have a standby generator for your whole home or workshop?

Is there any recommendations you have? What would you look for / think about?

Thoughts?

Here's the one thing I always discuss with friends when they're thinking about a "whole house" generator....

To me - living in the Pacific Northwest - when the power goes out it's only a nuisance...so most of the time it's for a few hours... rarely is it out a whole day - and once in a great while it might be off for 3 or 4 days. What I don't want to have happen is to be cold - or have to toss everything in the fridge.. and having lights is nice.

That takes a 6000 watt generator. I have a Honda 6500isx that connects to a generator switch wired into the main box. It's a ten circuit box -- so I have selected the things I want to run. Lights in the bathroom - master bedroom - furnace - kitchen (not oven)... refer -- and GARAGE DOOR Openers...

Here's the thing I don't want in the event of a MAJOR EARTHQUAKE where power is out for weeks - catastrophic damage is done to roads - infrastructure... NAT GAS LINES broken - water mains damaged etc -- AND more importantly -- where MY HOUSE IS DAMAGED... perhaps off the foundation - or windows broken - roof damage etc...

The last thing I'd want then is a generator that I can't pick up and move somewhere else! I might have to pitch a tent in the backyard... and if the natural gas line is damaged - how am I going to run my generator... and if it's hardwired into the house... now I have an electrical issue.

So I have mine PORTABLE.... so I can load it in my truck and take it to my buddies house that is FINE and he just doesn't have power! AND I have enough vehicles that I can siphon gas out of for days or weeks as the case may be. Because - remember - no power - no gas stations are pumping either!

Just my .02 worth -- with the gen switch wired into the house - I flick a switch and light up the whole house (the 10 circuits)... with heat etc... but I'm mobile if need be. And or can use the generator for something else because frankly - they don't get used all the much.

[Sieg]

Good advice Greg.